Last year’s person of the year selected by the U.S. weekly, Time magazine, was none other than “you.” The choice was a quite natural one, given the worldwide popularity of UCC, short for User Created Content.

Now anyone can produce, share, and consume information and knowledge in cyber space. It is no surprise that 40% of internet users in Korea, one of the world’s premier IT leaders, personally produce UCC. Pundits even cite UCC as one of the key variables in the upcoming Korean presidential election in December.

Then what kind of changes is UCC bringing to the nation? First, we’ll find out how widespread the phenomenon is from reporter Kim Min-soo of ElectronicTimes.


"In the case of Daum, one of Korea’s premium portal sites, about 3 million UCC postings are uploaded a day. At Cyworld, a site for mini homepages, 39 hundred pieces of UCC were posted in just the first month their UCC section was open.

Pandora TV, a UCC specialty site, recorded a remarkable annual growth rate of 1000% for their average number of pages viewed daily. UCC has spread to mobile programs, and now even major broadcasting networks have programs introducing UCC."


Pandora TV, Korea’s largest UCC site, became the first personal TV station to top 1,000 viewers a day.

If the hot trends during the early days of Internet in the late 1990s were emails and online cafes, and those of the early 21stcentury were mini-homepages and blogs, then now it got to be UCC. It has spread like wildfire through the online communities, notching over a 200% increase in the number of UCC users every month.

UCC is a true worldwide mega trend of the times, but it has been around for quite sometime in Korea. In the mid-1990s, Korea had already adopted services where users themselves could create and share content.

Examples of those services include mini-homepages, where people describe their everyday lives through writings and photos, and knowledge searches, in which internet users ask and answer questions among themselves over the internet.

Then what is the reason behind UCC’s phenomenal success?


"Such popularity is driven by technological advancement. Korea’s UCC model goes back further than the better-known YouTubesite, which was recently acquired by Google.

The largest UCC site, Pandora TV, started service in Korea back in 2003. Korean internet users got tired of conventional content like TV shows and movies, and they wanted to express themselves in a more diverse and unfettered way.

I think people’s desire to create something to their liking was what brought about the UCC craze."


Although UCC first made its appearance in Korea back in 2003, it failed to attract much attention because of technological difficulties.

But recent advancements in technology have made it easier for ordinary users to create and post their work. Also the passion and drive of Korean internet users to express themselves has propelled UCC’s growth.

Koreans, who are used to utilizing the internet and sharing their lives online, found the right venue for opening up to others.


"One of the characteristics of Korea’s UCC is that most of the content is fun and entertaining. Talented people post clips of themselves playing the guitar or the piano, so they can share and get responses from other online users.

High-quality clips receive numerous hits and replies from the online public who are genuinely entertained by them.

Also Koreans use UCC as a search tool. If you want to find out about how to make good ramen noodles, you search for a UCC posting that shows, rather than describes in writing, how to make good ramen. So UCC has become more informational as well."


More accessible online venues have made stars out of ordinary people. The content creators play the key role in the fast and wide distribution of useful information.

As UCC stands in the forefront of culture and public opinion, even offline, Korean society is faced with a seismic transformation. The information technology industry is reshaping its structure around UCC, and corporate executives are trying to convert offline successes into online ones, and vice versa. Even the media is updating its content to incorporate a UCC style.

However, UCC is having the strongest impact on the most unlikely area of all -- politics.


"Didn’t President Roh Moo-hyun get elected back in 2002 on the backs of millions of internet users? He made the most out of the Internet’s power, which eventually spilled over into conventional media and moved the general public.

This is why today’s presidential hopefuls are racking their brains to capitalize on UCC for their campaigns. The presidential elections are now determined by the media. Those who used to give public oratory in outdoor plazas now stand in front of the TV camera, or appear on the internet to promote their political ideas.

The power of UCC has become so great that the National Election Commission is mulling how to accommodate UCC with the current election laws."


UCC has already demonstrated how much influence it can exert over politics during the United States’ mid-term elections last November.

The upcoming Korean presidential election on December 17this bound to be the same. Internet experts say that if the 2002 presidential race was determined by the internet, this year’s race is bound to be swayed by UCC, representing the great power of ordinary people.

Will User-CreatedContent be the deciding factor in Korea’s 17t hpresidential election? The Korean political sphere is fast becoming a new test bed for the far-reaching force of UCC.